Rail suicides take psychological toll on train crews

Monday

Oct 27, 2008 at 12:01 AMOct 27, 2008 at 5:42 AM

Richard Davey, general manager of Mass. Bay Commuter Rail, which runs commuter trains for the MBTA, said engineers and conductors are automatically given three days off with pay so they can get counseling after a suicide by train.

Dennis Tatz

A train engineer who works 25 years can expect to see at least three people die on the tracks during his career, according to John Tolman, vice president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen in Washington, D.C.

The deaths aren’t necessarily accidents. They are usually suicides by train.

And the effects they have on train crews can be devastating. “We have a higher rate of post traumatic stress,” Tolman said.

There is nothing the engineer or anyone onboard a fast-moving train can do about someone intent on killing himself by jumping in front of a train.

“If someone is committed to the successful act of suicide, they will choose methods that are fairly well geared to succeed,” said John Sheff, a psychologist with Brookside Counseling Associates in Hingham. Walking into the path of an oncoming train is among those methods, he said.

A commuter train struck and killed a 41-year man in Braintree last weekend, the second fatality on South Shore tracks in recent weeks. The state medical examiner has yet to rule on the death.

That office ruled as a suicide the Sept. 28 death of a 53-year-old man near the South Weymouth station. The man stretched out on the tracks before the train approached.

Federal agencies don’t keep statistics on the number of suicides by train each year, but some researchers and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have estimated that there are about 30 such deaths nationwide each year. That’s just one percent of the 30,000 suicides in the United States each year. But it’s a method of suicide with widespread ramifications, especially for train crews, Tolman said.

Richard Davey, general manager of Mass. Bay Commuter Rail, which runs commuter trains for the MBTA, said engineers and conductors are automatically given three days off with pay so they can get counseling after a suicide by train.

“We want to make sure that our employees are cared for,” Davey said. “If they require more time, we are there to support them. It’s a tragic circumstance for many people.”

There have been six fatalities on MBTA tracks this year, the latest being the one in Braintree, according to T spokesman Joe Pesaturo. It’s not always possible to determine whether a track fatality was a suicide or an accidental death.

During the past decade, fatalities on MBTA tracks have averaged 4 to 5 each year, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.

Last December, a 21-year-old Bridgewater State College student from Hanson was struck and killed by a commuter rail train near the Cranland Airport on Route 58. The day before he was killed, the man was charged with drunken driving and family members said he was extremely upset the last time they saw him, which was the night before he died.

There has been no official ruling in that death, according to the MBTA.

In 2006, two people died on local tracks. Authorities determined both deaths, one in Holbrook and the other in Bridgewater, were suicides. And in 2005, a 31-year-old Whitman man died when he drove his pickup truck onto the tracks in Abington. That was also ruled a suicide.

Tolman said the Federal Railroad Administration has been looking into how to treat affected railroad workers.

“Commuter (rail) service has recognized that this is an issue,” he said.

Dennis Tatz may be reached at dtatz@ledger.com.

Fatalities on T tracks

6 So far in 2008
5 2007
6 2006
2 2005
2 2004

Source: Federal Railroad Administration.

Death on the tracks

Oct. 19: A 41-year-old man is struck and killed by a commuter train near Hancock and Plain streets in Braintree. A ruling is pending from the state medical examiner.
Sept. 28: A 53-year-old man stretches out on the tracks near the South Weymouth station at Hollis and Pond streets and is killed. His death is ruled a suicide.
Dec. 10, 2007: A 21-year-old college student from Hanson is hit and killed by a train near the Cranland Airport on Route 58. There has been no official ruling on his death.
April 19, 2006: An 83-year-old Braintree man drives his car onto the tracks at the South Street crossing in Holbrook. The train engineer applies the emergency brake, but not in time. The man is killed, and his death is later ruled a suicide.